


A Hairline Fracture

by AVeryConfusedBird



Series: Assholes Of The Round Table [16]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Demigods, Demons, Devils, Fae & Fairies, Faeries - Freeform, Fairy Tale Elements, Fights, Fist Fights, Gods, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic, Panic, Panic Attacks, Sparring, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 20:23:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20823263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AVeryConfusedBird/pseuds/AVeryConfusedBird
Summary: “Well we keep getting attacked at random, so I figured I might as well try fighting back in clothes I typically wear right? Can’t always be ready to beat someone up” Cornelius grinned at him; eyes bright but lance had known to be inherently suspicious“And you couldn’t ask those two too help you?” Lance motioned to the bench outside of the ring where Galahad and Percival were sat, watching attentively“No, because they’ll hold back” Cornelius continued to grin, swaying slightly on the spot only trying to add to his innocent demeanor. With one final Squint, lance sighed and agreed“Alright, bare knuckle fighting no holding back, just don’t get mad at me when you can’t get blood out of your sweater”Preparations for the dark times to come leaves a fracture in a heart.





	A Hairline Fracture

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! please, let me know what you think in the comments, all kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!!!

“So, let me get this straight. You want to practice fighting. Against me. Wearing that.” Lance looked Cornelius over who stood not 10 feet from him, wearing some of the least appropriate gear to fight in he’d possibly seen before – His hair was pulled back into a ponytail, held back by a comically large pastel pink bow, his fringe pined back by equally gaudy bows of varying colours, a thick leather choker around his neck, separated in the middle by metal heart, a comically oversized sweater in an equally bright yellow, a pair of purple overalls, green and white stripy stocks up past his knees and simple, small heeled lace up boots the same pink as his bow. It was a rainbow of offences on Lances eyes.  
“Well we keep getting attacked at random, so I figured I might as well try fighting back in clothes I typically wear right? Can’t always be ready to beat someone up” Cornelius grinned at him; eyes bright but lance had known to be inherently suspicious  
“And you couldn’t ask those two too help you?” Lance motioned to the bench outside of the ring where Galahad and Percival were sat, watching attentively  
“No, because they’ll hold back” Cornelius continued to grin, swaying slightly on the spot only trying to add to his innocent demeaner. With one final Squint, lance sighed and agreed  
“Alright, bare knuckle fighting no holding back, just don’t get mad at me when you can’t get blood out of your sweater”

When the start bell dinged, Lance barely had time to react as Cornelius was on him instantly, his arm barely managing to block against the bottom of Cornelius boot, sliding backwards at the sheer force behind the kick, and when another had struck his arm equally as quick he rolled away to the best of his ability, letting out a yelp in surprise as Cornelius continued to kick against him relentlessly, forcing him backwards towards the outbounds. He stumbled to the ground, barely managing to shuffle backwards in time for Cornelius to bring his ankle down against the ground between his legs, only just missing his head. To say lance was the werewolf and the larger in the situation, it was more the look in Cornelius eyes that could be described as feral.

Even as he tried to pull himself back to his feet, Cornelius was unrelentless, unwavering in his attack as he continued to attack towards Lance. Much to Lance’s luck, Cornelius went high as he had gone low, rolling under his legs as Cornelius flipped over him with a graceful ease, allowing him to spend a few moments regaining himself for Cornelius next wave of rapid quick-fire attacks. Again, Lance had been caught among surprise, as Cornelius’ little fists came striking towards him along with feet. Lance was barely able to catch them as Cornelius again began to fight him into a corner, before Lance could growl, losing his temper and using his wolf strength to force the fey the other way. Much to lances dismay, it still didn’t take the fey long to recover as he forced himself back up from the ground by throwing himself back up to his feet with ease.

Lance was panting heavily at this point, eyes staring into Cornelius who looked as if he was barely breaking a sweat. A snarl ripped through his throat as Cornelius spoke to him, not in a language he knew, but from the sheer tone alone knew he was teasing him, and like that he had pounced again into the fray. Lance thought he’d had the jump, moving first but Cornelius knew he was coming, catching and blocking lances kicks with ease, ducking under each swing like he was made to fight, getting many more strikes off on Lance than Lance was doing against Cornelius, as Cornelius began to move him backwards.

The end came when Cornelius managed to strike him hard enough in the shin for him to practically howl in pain, the shooting feeling giving Cornelius enough time to kick him in his gut, winding him and disorientating him, and in true fey style, with a show off finish, flipping in the air, landing with one foot, connecting the side of the other too Lances head, the werewolf dropped, waving his white flag in defeat.

Galahad and Percival were losing their minds laughing from the bench, curled over, gripping to each other to remain stable, breath wheezing as Cornelius, like a switch, leant over Lance, his eyes bright and charming again, his smile cheeky as he spoke  
“You okay there?”  
“Fuck you!” Lance spat out, not in anger but in confusion at the situation, Cornelius giggled before speaking  
“Hey, I said there would be no holding back!” Cornelius stuck out his hand in a friendly motion to pull Lance from the ground  
“What the fuck twinkle toes where’d that come from?” Lance looked at the hand Cornelius offered, groaning in pain with the adrenaline fading and the pain of the punches settling into him. Through wheezing and laughing breaths, Galahad added to the conversation  
“B-but but love, you DID hold back?” Galahad managed to choke out, stilling himself just enough to talk  
“Did I?”  
“You didn’t use your wings or your magic love” The gasp Cornelius let out had them both wriggling over each other in laughter again  
“I didn’t! Lance fight me again!” Cornelius looked back to lance, his eyes practically glittering with mischief  
“Absolutely fucking not twinkle toes.”

When Arthur and Guinevere entered the gym, they could have only been confused. Lance was laid out on the floor in the ring, Cornelius stood above him looking like his usual self, while Galahad and Percival had curled over each other in laughter, failing to stand up straight.  
“you know I always wondered how the fuck you survived for 12 years in the wild, now that fucking answers my questions what the fuck you little shit” Lance continued to huff, as Cornelius pulled him back to his feet  
“What….just happened?” Guinevere asked, trying to comprehend the scene  
“Twinkle toes just fucking kicked my ass is what happened!” Lance yelled back  
“the fucker can _fight_. I’ve fought other werewolves less damn feral!” Cornelius could only grin and sway on the spot childishly, pleased as Galahad and Percival continued to fail to find breath. Cornelius turned away for a moment, climbing out of the ring carefully when a spasm had run through his body, causing him to yelp loudly as he lost grip, tumbling out. The smack of him hitting the floor jolted Percival and Galahad from their laughing fit as they sat up  
“Love?” Galahad quickly made his way over, helping Cornelius back to his feet  
“I’m okay, I think?” Cornelius looked at his hands confused for a moment, shuddering a little before he looked up  
“Did you slip or? You….glowed then, for a moment, only a little spark but a glow none the less” Galahad looked him over carefully, Percival following shortly to make sure Cornelius was okay.  
“Maybe, I don’t know? I felt something strange too…” Cornelius let Galahad check him over carefully, mumbling to himself  
“I might have just scared myself slipping” he shrugged, and cuddled Galahad tightly once done.

However, something was not right.

The twitchy feeling lingered throughout the day; he felt his body just…drop a couple of times. Unexplainable, but mostly when he was alone with his thoughts. He had tried to find a few things – a few answers, but nothing was coming up. His wings were fine – no tears, no rips. They’d taken no damage in the fight. And his magic was fine as well – still the same gold, still beautiful and careful as he cast. There was no differences, until he’d realised a tightened weight in his chest. The colour had blanched from his face when he realised what could have possibly been causing all these problems.

His heart.

He didn’t want to believe it, as he shakily recalled the ritual, sitting in silence alone until his heart was in his hands.

“that….shouldn’t be able to happen – not while I still have it” he mumbled to himself, shoulders shaking as he began panicking.

Guinevere pulled the curtain back to find Cornelius curled into the smallest ball she’d ever seen him in, panic immediately flooding her  
“Tinker?” her voice was soft, but it had Cornelius jumping, looking to her like a startled deer in the headlights, eyes wide with panic and fear.  
“Hey hey tinker its only me, everything okay?” She slowly made her way over, not to frighten him further, trying to look at what he had clasped tightly into his hands. Cornelius could only shake his head, voice caught in his throat as he tried not to cry, only to fail miserably as the waterworks came. Guinevere settled him into her arms, letting him cry as she attempted to comfort him the best she could  
“I-It’s okay Cornelius, it’s okay, I promise baby cakes. What’s wrong? Do…you need me to go get Percival and Galahad?” Guinevere sat back, pulling away to look at Cornelius who only shook his head rapidly in response to the question.  
“Did they make you cry?” Guinevere scowled, cursing them out for a moment before Cornelius shook his head  
“Then why are we hiding it from them?” She cupped his cheeks gently, waiting for him to finally stop sniffling  
“I-It’s to do _with_ them but it’s n-not their fault. There’s something wrong with me” he eventually choked out, holding whatever was in his hands tighter, closer to his chest.  
“In…what way?” Gunievere gently moved her hands towards it, only for Cornelius to startle, immediately moving his hands away from her, so she couldn't touch it.

they stare, momentarily in silence, before Cornelius blinked quickly, bringing his cupped hands back down to his lap.  
“I’m…having heart problems” he eventually whispered out, Leaving Guinevere scrunching her eyebrows Concerned.  
“Do…Do I need to get Odette on the phone? Do we need to go to the ward?” She started, but Cornelius looked up, cutting her off a little  
“Not! Like that I’m not having a heart attack my b-beating heart is fine! It’s my….My fey heart”  
“Gonna have to give me more details there sweetcakes” Guinevere watched as Cornelius looked conflicted heavily for a moment  
“J-Just don’t _touch_ it okay?” He warned, before he opened his closed hands. In the palm, cradled with the upmost delicacy, was a heart. Resembling that of a love heart in a romantic sense, perfectly smooth in a pretty pale pink colour which every so often would go deeper red as it beat – it almost looked like a glass paperweight at most.  
“W…What is the problem with it? Should it not be changing colour?” Guinevere asked, wanted to inspect the object closer but at Cornelius’ discretion avoided contact with it  
“It’s broken” Cornelius stroked his finger over the glass, and as they did his nails pointed to the problem – Right down the center was a hairline fracture, a shatter in the glass.  
“R-Remember what we said the other day? About ‘all human mythology has realities in the supernatural’? The whole…One true love, true love’s kiss stuff you read about in fairy tales? That’s all….very real concepts for us. For me. I-I knew I was fucked up already because I-I was sure I had two true loves. And I-I can’t have a happily ever after until I give my heart away, but again…only get one!” Cornelius sniffled, moving up to wipe his eyes quickly as tears threatened to spill “I can’t do anything…happily ever after wise. It’s a part of marriage, it’s a part of my magic. I-I haven’t even unlocked my true potentially magically until it’s been given away. I didn’t want to give it to Percival or Galahad be-because then the other is left without. A-and it’s…a lot _more_ than just giving it away.”  
“And…y-yours is breaking apart” Guinevere only looked concerned for her friend as he nodded “Should it…be able to do that?”  
“Technically?”  
“what do you mean ‘technically’”  
“L-Like I said there’s a whole lot _more _to giving a heart away and it’s complicated, but when the other owns my heart, I’m in true love forever – but that do-doesn’t mean they are. They’re not _compelled_ to love me magically, it’s their choice. Rejecting my heart or falling out of love with me can break it. Breaking a-a Fey’s heart can have minor effects, such as a minor shift in alignment – I may become…neutral, or-or even evil if it was given away in desperation. B-but if I’m deep enough in love, breaking my heart can _kill me_” the weight of Cornelius’ words hung heavily in her chest. Cornelius thought he was _dying_.  
“but….you’ve not given yours away” Guinevere asked, looking towards him  
“Nope” the soft wobble was back in his voice as he tried to hold in the tears  
“and it’s still breaking?”  
“yep” And the tears came again, as he hiccupped out.  
“Have…you ever heard of anything like this?” Cornelius couldn’t answer the next question, the tears falling freely as he whisked his heart away, Guinevere pulling him into his arms to allow him to cry.  
“Time to go speak with the witches then. I can see when the coven can next meet, hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later”

Cornelius had gathered himself considerably. The witches would see him tomorrow, and all would be fine. The tears had gone, as had the red of his eyes and he was feeling stronger and better already. He shuffled his way up the stairs, towards the apartment door hearing the soft voices of his boyfriends through. Hearing them giggle and chat between them already made his heart squeeze, making him feel better as he pushed the front door open.  
Percival’s head swiveled around from his place on the sofa as he entered, a smile on his face.  
“Cornelius is here! He can settle this for us!” Percival grinned, snickering as he pulled himself over the side of the sofa. However, he stopped upon watching Cornelius – maybe Cornelius _wasn’t_ as strong as he through he was as panic flooded his brain. _Had they been arguing while he wasn’t here? Are they falling out of love?_  
“Whoa hey, baby it’s okay…are you okay?” Percival’s tone shifted to worry as he approached, wrapping his arms tightly around Cornelius’ waist. Galahad’s head snapped over, quickly following Percival in checking over Cornelius  
“You two were fighting?” his voice was almost silent as he spoke, feeling the rough palm of Galahads hand stoke his cheek  
“Not seriously Love, no no we’re playing” Galahad cooed softly, wrapping his large arms around both of his boyfriends tightly  
“We’re only joking about, not actually fighting” Percival wiped the tears from Cornelius’ eyes as they gathered in the corners, tucking his smaller boyfriend into his chest. Cornelius shouldn’t be feeling like this, he knew but that didn’t stop the tears as his wings flickered and twitched with his gentle hiccupping sobs, the gentle hands stroking over him doing their best to soothe him.

And once again, his sobs eventually died down to sniffles. By this time however they had moved from being stood within the living room, and Galahad had carried them all into the bedroom with Cornelius’ bundled up between them both until he felt better.  
“You wanna talk about it?” Percival mumbled into Cornelius hair, who sniffled again in response  
“I-I think it’s just a heavy emotional day? I-I don’t know...” he wasn’t lying, but he certainly wasn't being honest, but he hoped it would be enough as Galahad’s arms tightened around them  
“You’re allowed to have bad emotional days baby, I have them all the time, it’s alright.” Percival reassured, kissing his forehead gently  
“We weren’t fighting though baby. We need to go talk to the Reckless and to Divine Intervention, we were figuring out who had the _pleasure _of dealing with whom” the tone of Galahad’s voice made Cornelius giggled a little, sniffling  
“I say Percival should go talk to Divine intervention while we handle the reckless – the reckless know us, like us. Unlike divine intervention.” Galahad weighed in his opinion, looking towards Cornelius  
“While _I_ say I should go talk to the reckless with you – they’re like family to me. Divine intervention aren’t _that_ bad, and you know they’ll never give me the information if I go.” Percival contradicted, still smiling as he held onto Cornelius  
“Who do you think should go see who? And who do you want to go with?” Percival asked, and Cornelius stopped, thinking for a moment.  
“Well, I can’t go with any of you, I have to go speak to the witches” He sniffled between sentences, rubbing his face with the sleeve of his jumper.  
“But Percival has a point. Divine intervention won’t give him information, at least easily. They’ll give you the information quicker – over and done with.” Percival cheered slightly, fist pumping the air as Cornelius went with his point, Galahads pout making Cornelius giggle again.  
“Then it’s sorted. Tomorrow, Cornelius will go see the Pretty Witches Club. I will go speak to the reckless. And Galahad will go see Divine Intervention” Percival smiled widely, wrapping his arms tightly around Cornelius waist, reaching over to Galahad. He kissed Cornelius cheek once. And then twice. Until he was smothering the fey in love making him giggle loudly  
“Right now, I think our lovely little boyfriend needs some special love” Galahad hummed, joining in Percival in teasing Cornelius with kisses.

Everything felt better already. Cornelius could feel the change in his strength as they kissed and cuddled and made his night. It was nice, but at the back of his mind concern still weighed heavy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading!! If you enjoyed PLEASE leave me a comment and some Kudos!  
if you want to know about updates they can be found on my twitter and Tumblr!!  
[Here is my twitter](https://twitter.com/VeryConfuseBirb)  
[Here is my Tumblr](http://v-e-r-y-confused-bird.tumblr.com)  
Here are a bunch of spottily playlists based around this work!  
[Arthur](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/55P4pGCOGIuFgaYFentK08?si=dCoxxPpFRa6a8tDSSFgbXA), [Annie](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/1BGxY5s5O60zVdoQYelKZW?si=7YEkW-0BRue1sRXpYxcRdA), [Cornelius](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/6k6xHTBjNISTXeLyiuODzZ?si=kNmlHT4JSvuyr-ef6JuE4g), [Galahad](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/6NkkcqxsMWkWgr0Eh8nKdL?si=gPpDeStgQMS7ay6m39X1_A), [Guinevere](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/4P63FRzSZ1CgoLPE5fu6Zv?si=m6u_v3EbTSmO3qZ28KbQEg), [Lance](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/6AshjuZs1RgpzkTqPlLbo1?si=6EzE8-5cTG2qD-WAs2lUtA), [Percival](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/4ltHxaOgDtrz2stmLgRELA?si=PAal0YHsTh6M6sneeYWqnw), [Safir](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/7qhONf7XBolzojW6Spm2gI?si=hk89MbQYTvSpGhTC_Bwzpg)  
Bonus Playlist based around [Galahad, Percival and Cornelius' relationship](https://open.spotify.com/user/xmtqkjkms8l37j1c4l44maf7i/playlist/2qW4SUv5e2uiG8vr1hdZaQ?si=2mBy8OKETcSE5ryHI5XAZg)


End file.
